New standard sets clear expectations for responsible crypto market making as global market structure regulation takes shape
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#blockchain--With regulation accelerating and institutions increasingly entering the digital asset space, the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC) is taking a decisive step to raise the bar for market making integrity.
Today, CMIC — a 51-member industry alliance launched in 2022 — announced the launch of the CMIC Industry Standard for Market Making in Digital Assets, the first unified best-practices framework for market making in crypto.
The standard addresses the current gap in clear, actionable best practices for integrity-driven digital asset market making. It provides practical guidance on conflict of interest disclosure and management, market abuse prevention, and global compliance alignment — highlighting a collective effort by leading crypto firms and the broader industry to proactively tackle integrity challenges in this critical market function.
“Market making is the backbone of liquid, efficient markets — but crypto’s structure introduces novel risks, especially around conflicts of interest and manipulation,” said Chen Arad, Co-Founder of Solidus Labs. “This Standard demonstrates that the industry can act ahead of regulation — offering firms and policymakers a blueprint for what responsible, transparent digital asset market making looks like.”
The CMIC Industry Standard for Market Making in Digital Assets offers a robust framework for firms that provide or rely on market making services.
Key components include:
- Conflict of Interest Management: Calls for transparent disclosure and mitigation practices for conflicts involving shareholders, executives, and employees, critically where firms act as both principal and agent.
- Market Abuse Prevention: Encourages firms to adopt market surveillance systems, enforce internal controls, and address both traditional manipulation tactics (e.g. spoofing, wash trading) and crypto-native abuse (e.g. oracle manipulation, social media sentiment schemes).
- Global Compliance Alignment: Promotes jurisdiction-specific protocols that align with global best practices while preparing firms to evolve with future regulation.
The Standard is supported by 51 CMIC member firms, including major exchanges, liquidity providers, brokerages, industry associations, custodians, and infrastructure providers — many of which are directly involved in or rely on market making.
Initiated in 2022 by Solidus Labs, CMIC has become a leading unified industry voice for responsible crypto innovation, and its 51-strong membership comprises leading firms like Coinbase, Circle, Bitstamp, Gemini, GSR, BitMEX, Robinhood, and others. Prior to today’s release, CMIC has published a Consumer Bill of Rights, a formal Market Integrity Code of Conduct and Pledge, built the CMIC Academy, and submitted multiple industry letters to policymakers, all available on the coalition’s website. CMIC is actively developing further standards to address market integrity challenges surrounding shared-surveillance, tokenization, staking, fraud, and other issues.
To learn more about CMIC, sign its market integrity pledge, and join the effort, visit www.cmic.global.
Contacts
Trevor Davis, Gregory FCA for CMIC
trevor@gregoryfca.com
215-475-5931